- The hiring and interview process for general counsel jobs
is very different from the interview process
for in-house counsel roles.
So in this video,
I am going to walk you through what you can expect
in terms of the recruiting timeline
and the interview process in general
when you're looking for a general counsel job.
Welcome back.
If you're new here, I'm Annie Little.
I'm an ICF certified coach and former lawyer.
And I created this channel for lawyers
who are looking for practical guidance
on how to land lead and succeed
in the legal profession and beyond.
All right, so we're going to start by talking about
managing your expectations.
And I think this is important to talk about first
because like I said at the opening,
the GC hiring process is unlike any other
in-house counsel type hiring role
and really any other type of lawyer interview process.
So, the timeline is much longer.
From your perspective,
it will probably be about four months.
But just know that it's been at least a month
or two in the making behind the scenes
before you're even brought into the picture.
And yes, the process may seem slow.
Four months can feel like a really long time.
But just for perspective,
there are a lot of moving parts
and a lot of people's schedules that need to be coordinated
so they can have you talking to the people
that need to talk to you.
And while this process is ongoing,
you do not want to be hounding whoever your contact is.
You know, usually it's an internal recruiter
or an external recruiter.
But don't hound the recruiter.
You know, you can certainly ask for updates
and reiterate your interest but
they don't have a whole lot of control.
There's like I said, there's a lot of moving parts.
And in the same vein,
don't try to circumvent your contact person.
Don't try to circumvent the recruiter.
They have been tagged by the company
to handle all of the communication with you.
So don't go around them and make mess with the process.
And yes, during this long process,
there will be multiple rounds of interviews.
In my experience, the minimum would be three rounds,
but you probably want to plan on more just in case.
Though speaking of interviews,
let's talk about the GC interview process.
Now, unless you're going up internally
in your organization to the GC role,
you're probably going to be dealing with
some kind of recruiter.
Whether it's a recruiter
that's internal to the company that's hiring
or an external like executive search firm.
So they're going to be your first round.
Like that's usually called a screening interview
and you just want to sure that you know your resume
forward and backward and that you're confident
and that you're projecting executive presence.
This is also your opportunity to learn about the role
to decide if it's something that you're even interested in.
For starters, I want you to keep in mind
that because there aren't a whole
lot of general counsel positions just in existence
that in many instances, you would need to relocate.
So make sure that that's one of the first things
that you're asking about
whether or not you can stay where you are,
if it's in your locale or if relocation is expected.
Another very important question that you should be asking is
why are they hiring?
And this could be, they're replacing somebody
or perhaps this will be their first ever GC role.
In any case, you want to understand why that role is empty.
And then just ask some other basic questions like
who does the GC report to?
What does the legal department look like?
How does it fit into the overall organization
or corporation?
And just any sort of other questions you may have
that are going to help you decide
whether or not this is a job that you want to pursue.
Oh, and also remember, I was talking about
how you should never go around the recruiter, right?
You should not like circumvent your contact
even if you know people in the company.
So if you do know people within the organization,
this recruiter screening interview
is a great place to let them know
who you know in the organization
and they can work things out from there.
All right, so once you make it past the recruiter screening,
you've got your first round interview or first rounds.
'Cause these can kind of, they have the same spirit,
but it's basically any interview
or interviews that you have before you would be talking
one on one with the CEO.
And the key to your first round interview is to prepare.
Prepare, prepare, do all of your due diligence,
do a deep dive on this company
'cause you are going to want to let them know
that you understand what their company's about,
what the needs are, how they're doing,
how they fit into the larger industry.
So do not skimp on this.
So you're going to want to be looking for
all publicly available information.
So you can start, you know, just navigating
the company's website, looking up the bios
of anyone you might be meeting with especially executives,
make sure you're reading industry blogs
and articles so you know what's happening right now
so you can see where the company fits
into the broader industry,
getting a sense of who their competitors are.
If it's a publicly traded company or a nonprofit,
there are going to be some public filings
that you're going to be able to check out.
And that would include like financial reports.
And you may also find some analyst reports
that you could take a look at
and you can read their annual report,
press releases, check out their marketing,
really get a sense of who this organization is.
So in this first round which,
the first round may include many separate little interviews,
you will likely be talking to people
in the legal department, but you will probably also be
meeting with people on the business side.
And so you're going to want to make sure that you're tailoring
your responses and your interactions to the audience
to which you're speaking.
Also, I have had multiple clients who have been asked
to give a presentation to the business side
and some of the legal as well.
So that can be a possibility.
Once you have cleared the first round of interviews,
next they will elevate you to the interview with the CEO.
So when you get to the interview with the CEO,
odds are you are a finalist for the GC position.
Probably one of two, maybe three.
And really what this interview is about is you and the CEO
deciding if you would be a good fit to work together
because odds are
you are going to be working with the CEO very closely.
And for them they want to find somebody that they can
view as a trusted advisor and even a business partner.
And from your perspective,
you want to find somebody that you feel good working for
and that you can respect and get along with.
The next interview after the CEO, if it goes well,
they're going to move you up to interview with
at least one of the board members.
And in most cases they're just going to be kind of probing
your understanding of corporate governance
and like business best practices.
They're going to want to know that you have a demonstrated
history of dealing with, challenging ethical problems
and that you know when is an appropriate time to raise
certain issues up to the board level
and which issues don't need to be brought up that high.
Next, let's talk about what you should be asking
in these interviews like all of these multiple rounds.
You should be using these as an opportunity
to learn as much about the organization
and about the general counsel role as possible.
And this is just a way for you to kind of have a cheat sheet
for what they are going to want from the general counsel.
And from there you can decide
if that's something that you want to do yourself
and that you're capable of doing.
So one way to gauge what their expectations are,
you could something like
what would a successful general counsel accomplish
in their first year?
You're also going to want to find out
what characteristics they find important
for their general counsel to have.
And a great way to ask this is to say,
you know, what characteristics make a general counsel
successful in this industry?
And because every law department is set up differently
within an organization,
you're going to want to ask a lot of questions
about how their legal department is structured
and where does it fit within the larger organization.
And this is going to be important for you to figure out
if this is the type of workplace
where you're going to thrive.
So as you're gathering information,
you're going to want to take note
so that you can run these things
through the filter of your core values.
And that's going to help you to understand
if you're going to fit in well here
or if you're going to be putting yourself at risk for burnout.
And the next question I want you to ask,
it's going to sound similar
to something that you would ask a recruiter
in the screening interview,
but we're actually looking for
slightly different information.
And that's when we're asking,
you're trying to find out why they're hiring someone
for the general counsel position.
And it's in the sense of like what's missing
from their current legal department or,
you know, if you're going to be the first GC,
what's missing within the organization
within like certain teams.
And you can figure this out by asking questions like
what does the legal department need to do to improve?
Also, what would leadership
like to see changed in the legal department?
Also, this is a really important one.
Ask if there are any legal issues
that are going to require immediate attention.
So those are the types of questions
that you are going to be wanting to ask to make sure that
this role is going to be a good fit for you.
But I also want you to know that there are some questions
that you definitely should not be asking.
Now, of course, these are generally topics for much,
much later, probably during the offer stage,
but in any of these rounds of interviews
that we've been talking about today,
you want to avoid asking about typical work week,
vacation days, travel commitments, compensation,
and you don't want to be asking them questions
that are more in the recruiter's domain.
And these are questions like,
are there any internal candidates for the GC role,
asking about the CEO's current standing
with the shareholders in the board,
asking about whether there are any ethical issues
with the CEO or the CFO.
So that was a lot of information.
And really it's just to give you an idea of
what the process entails so that when you do
find yourself at the beginning of a general counsel
hiring process,
you've got a much better idea of what to expect
because it is a really long protracted
sometimes exhausting process.
And so I know just even thinking about
how long this process can be
can be a little anxiety inducing.
So if you're feeling like
you could potentially need some support and feedback
as you're going through this really long interview process
and potentially multiple interview processes
for different GC roles,
I want you to check out my 12-month long program,
Make Your Next Move.
I've put a link in the description.
Now I put this program together to support lawyers
who are going to be involved in a long process
and who want support through the entire thing.
So it goes from helping you identify
where these GC jobs are, helping you to strategically
position yourself through your LinkedIn profile,
helping you write your resume and cover letters.
Then of course, supporting you through the interview process
all the way through to the job offer
and negotiating your compensation.
So if that sounds like something you might be interested,
check the link in the description.
There's a special limited time offer
that I put there just for you as well
and check it out.
You would not be the first person,
the first lawyer to go program
and to come out on the other side in a general counsel role.